The Dolphins should pay a penalty, too. Beyond the way they screwed up the initial reaction(s) to the story — nothing to see here! … wait, maybe something to see here! … ok, we’ll excommunicate THIS guy! — they allowed this to happen, either explicitly or tacitly. It doesn’t matter. The organization created an environment that enabled a bully like Incognito to thrive. That includes the team execs and the so-called player “leaders” who let it go.

“I think the NFL—in the same way it banned all bounties after the New Orleans Saints’ scandal—must think about banning anything that reeks of hazing. Just because this tradition has been handed down doesn’t make it smart, or right. You can’t convince me the league would be worse off without even mild hazing. I need a player to stand up and shout me down on this, and tell me why it’s necessary, why it’s good for chemistry. I don’t see it.”

The NFL is also responsible. The league has always been lax about the rookie hazing. But, as we have seen with the concussion issue, nothing gets the league’s attention (and action) faster than a scandal that transcends the sports section and captures the attention of society more widely.

“The NFL, it seems, does a much better job providing a supportive, nurturing environment for someone like Richie Incognito than it does for players like Jonathan Martin.”

The NFL’s penalty is implied — one more assumption that fans will make about the league, one more thing for parents of kids to think about when they decide whether or not to let their child play football.

Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin is ultimately to blame here. This is the moment you have license to invoke “What did he know and when did he know it?” Here is Philbin’s problem: He is either a bungling manager or some kind of football sadist.

Philbin either actively neglected his team culture (his claim) or he knew and did nothing (which would be worse). Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt — at best, he is an appallingly ineffective leader. He could win games and keep his job, but his NFL legacy as a head coach is indelibly linked to this failure of leadership.

None of this matters if it doesn’t elevate the conversation beyond Incognito to the league’s underlying culture of hazing, if it doesn’t quash the “it’s part of team bonding” bunk and if it doesn’t create conditions for institutional change.

If Incognito’s exile (and, hopefully, Martin’s return, whether with the Dolphins or elsewhere) produces a public discussion and, perhaps, meaningful reform, perhaps Incognito’s career won’t entirely be the toxic waste it appears to be today.

“The villains in this story may include more people than just Richie Incognito. But the hero is Jonathan Martin who had the courage to treat this like the workplace issue that it is, break the jock code of silence, and demand that he should not have to deal with this crap.

“In the process, Jonathan Martin is giving football a crash course in what manhood actually looks like when practiced by an honest-to-god grown-up.”

****

Looking for something to watch on the Incognito story that will help you process the latest details? Last night on his show, Keith Olbermann summed it up powerfully: